St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-04-25

And come as one of you; come as n
human being redeemed by the precious blood
of the Son of God. i come as one lifted up:
! come in Gods name. and by His grace and
spirit to help every man and every woman up
into the higher religious plane. and try TO get
the world better and purer and wiser.
Now. this afternoou-the great jam-I sup
pose 1000 or 5000 people gathered around out
side on the streets and in the main building
there, cannot get admission here at all. am
sorry for those. But we can make this a
profitable service for you all, and L want to
talk few minutes this afternoon on these
words: II Have Fought the Good Fight"
These are the words, the last words almost, of
the greatest man God ever made-Saul of
Tarsus, st. Paul the great apostle. Where in
ali history will you lind such Il head and such
heart combined? Where in all history will
you find man whose intellect takes hold
upon ali questions pertaining to God and
righteousness and truth and holiness. and
whose word comes out like gushing river in
81 mpathy towards all humanity? And the
last words of this great man were these l
have fought the good fight. And when St.
Paul said that he just meant two things.
First have come over on the good side. and,
brother, that is all essential. man may be
NJ ugwump. as we call them that in politics.
but there can be no such thing
AS RELIGIOUS MUGwUMP.
HE that is not for Me is against Me, and
he that gathereth not with Me Scattereth
abroad; and no man can serve two masters
in this moral sense. And if had to define
the great difficulty in the Christian world to-
day l would say the trouble arose at this
point. The people of God have never taken
a stand for God and righteousness and truth.
That's II. l have como over on the good side.
Now you may go round this audience. take
each man in his inner life and ask a few
questions like these There is Methodist,
ftApn
| want TO say just at this point, Il Methodist is
as good as Baptist if he is as good laugh
ter /; Baptist is as good as Presbyterian If
he Is as good, and Presbyterian is as good
as Methodist il he is as good. 1t is not what
church man belongs to but what sort of a
fellow he is after he is in. There is the rub
OF the whole business. / am not here to run
q sectarian fight. l am not here to run a
meeting specifically in the interest of Method
ism and i also say TOO with all the conscious
manhood OF my nature, l am not here TO de-
nounce the other denominations in this town.
Do you hear that. If these Baptist, Presby-
terrain preachers want to come into this fight,
come in and fight with all your might, but if
you don't want to come in, God bless you we
can get along without you mighty we'll
Laughter. Aid we are not around to curry
the favor nor beg quarters, and if anybody
asks what church belong to, you tell 'em
Sam Jones said he was Methodist, and tell
them further than that that l am not
ashamed of it and never expect to be. Some
of the best friends I've got in the world are
Baptists. thank God. Some of the best
friends 1 have got in the world are Presby-
terians. thank GOD for it. Some of the best
friends I've got on earth are Episcopalians
thank God for it.
BUT 1 SAY TO YOU, MY BRETHREN,
1 want no Baptists, Methodists, Presbyter-
ians or Episcopalians, but want soldiers of
the cross of Jesus Christ to come into this
fight. Cries of amen. Many q professional
member OF the church in this community that
has never taken sides with God and right,
first on one side and then on the other, and
open and sing, ''Surely the Captain May
Depend on Me-" [Great laughter. Depend
on you to cut and shoot-cut home and shoot
under the bed. Laughter Surely the cap
tain may depend on me. Depend on you for
what? L am on the right side and never have
quarreled with man who lives up to his
profession. but despise hypocrite In any
FORM and above all things, God deliver me
from q religious hypocrite. A man who pro-
fesses and VOWS and promises one way and
then comes and lives another-I
propose to ask you few uuestjo rs
have come over on the good side. have
taken sides with God and the right. Here,
there is a man, l say Methodist, a Baptist,
a Presbyterian, an Episcopalian, no matter
what denomination. l say, brother you belong
to the church? Yes, sir.E. Joined last year?
Yes, Sir Npwsehrpther, have you made up
your mind fully, irrevocably. eternally that
you are going to do the clean thing? Weli.sI I
don't know. Sometimes think L will: some
times think l wont. Brother, have YOU
made up your mind you never will play an
other card? Well, 1 don't know; sometimes I
think will and sometimes I think I wont.
Brother, have you made up your mind that
you will never dance again while you live?
Well, l don't know; sometime / think l will
and sometimes1 think I wont. Have you
made up your mind to go to prayer meeting
every night and pray and live up to a practi-
cal Christianity? Well, I don't know; some
times think I will
AND SOMETIMES THINK WONT.
Have you made UP your mind to live d sober
man and touch not, taste not, handle not this
fearful stuff we call whisky? Sometimes
think 1 WILL sometimes 1 think wont. can't
tell exactly. Haveyo made up your mind
to divide your money with God, and with the
poor and those who have claims upon you?
Well, sometimes think I will, and sometimes
l think wont. 1 cannot tell for the life of
me. You can't tell to save your life whether
you will or not. Now, there it is He cam
not tell whether he will be in ball room or
not. He cannot tell whether he will be at a
prayer meeting or not. He cannot tell to
save his life whether he will take the next
save his life whether he is going to divide his
dollars with God and the poor or not. And
l will say another thing: You are
the only one that is left in
doubt on this subject; every other
fellow says no. can tell you now he won't do
the clean thing. That is the truth about it.
Now brother, if l have come and taken sides
with God and humanity, and | mean it, what
does that mean? 1t means, Lord, | have
taken the side Of sobriety ana truth and tenn
perance and righteousness aud humility and
carefulness and, ,scriptural reading. I have
taken sides practically with God and human
ity upon all the questions. 1 have marched
out with my gun on my shoulder to dare to
be right and dare to be true. Now how many
of these professed Christians in this audience
can stand up and say. as God is my judge this
is the honest convictions of my mind? Can
you say that? Now am not here in Mime
apolis SO much to get others into the church
as am TO get better crowd out of those al
ready there. DO you understand that? Now
come sQuarely down to
PRACTICAL HONEST FACTS.
/ asked one or two of the leading pastors
of Boston publicly if they had known that
my presence and Sam Smals presence in
Boston would have duplicated the member
ship on their hands, would they have wanted
US to come. The preachers shook their
heads, every one of them, as much as to say,
I would like 10 have 500 new ones, but not
just like my 500 old ones. Now you pastors
present just run over your flock little: my
brother to the right, we Will say he has 500
members, but when you force him TO put
down the name Of every man or woman in
his church who has convictions On this sub
jeet and will die by them, you will push him
pretty tight to get down so names out OF
500. If every church in Minneapolis had
fifty consecrated men and women in it we
could take this town for God in one
months time until there would not
be sinner left in it. I am glad of one thing,
that you have got the Salvation army in Min-
neapolis. Thank God for the Salvation army.
And will tell you Methodists another thing,
you should be the last crowd in the world to